Recent advances in molecular basis for strigolactone action

Strigolactones (SLs) are a very special class of plant hormones, which act as endogenous signals to regulate shoot branching in plants, and also serve as rhizosphere signals to regulate interactions of host plants with heterologous organisms such as symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and parasitic weeds. In this short review, we give a brief description of novel discoveries in SL biosynthesis pathway, and mainly summarize the recent advances in SL perception and signal transduction.